10


Issue 3 2012


US dangerous goods rules to be brought in line with ICAO


The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials


Safety Administration


(PHMSA), which oversees regulations for dangerous goods in air cargo in the US, says it plans to harmonise its rules for transport of lithium cells and batteries with those of the ICAO. Proposed PHMSA rules had been criticised by the air cargo industry as


unworkable. In a Federal Register notice


published on 11 April, PHMSA issue a notice of proposed rulemaking in which it stated: “The ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel has met several times and devoted considerable discussion to the provisions applicable to the air transport of lithium cells and batteries. As a result,


there have been many changes in the ICAO standards applicable to the air transport of lithium cells and batteries. Given the increased efficiency and clarity in having a uniform global standard, PHMSA considers harmonization with international standards when there is no adverse impact to safety.” Changes adopted by the ICAO


Dangerous Goods Panel include


updates to package weight limits, additional labelling requirements and amendments to the information the shipper must provide to the carrier. The Federal Register notice invited


also comments from


interested persons on the changes, by 11 May.


New freighters enhance FedEx offer


FedEx Express is introducing four Boeing 757 freighters to enhance the next-business-day service between eight major European airports, including Birmingham in the UK. They will significantly improve


services for customers in Sweden, Finland, UK and the Netherlands, with faster transits and extended cut-off times. Managing director of UK FedEx


Express Operations, Will Martin, said: “By bringing four Boeing 757s into Northern Europe to operate these pivotal routes, we are underlining our ongoing commitment


to the


growth of our presence in Europe. We are continually enhancing our services to give European customers unrivalled performance


and coverage - the introduction of these aircraſt offer them more time to prepare packages and get them to their destinations in the fastest time possible.”


Mr Martin added that a new


757-operated flight from Manchester via Birmingham to the Fedex international hub in Paris would allow later cut-off times, particularly for freight consignments that would otherwise have to go by truck. The new flight would offer an enhanced range of connections at Paris, to long-haul wide body flights to Asia and the US East Coast, to smaller feeder aircraſt and intra-European trucking services. It departs Manchester at 21.25, Birmingham at 22.26 and arrives


///NEWS NEWS ROUNDUP AIRFREIGHT &EXPRESS


Virgin Atlantic Cargo has introduced four Airbus A340-600 flights a week from Heathrow to Chicago, offering up to 17 tonnes of cargo capacity, prior to increasing frequency to daily from 18 May. The carrier also offers truck connections across the Midwest, including Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis St Paul, St Louis and Wayne Country.


The Association of European Airlines (AEA) has called on the US to fully recognise European cargo security standards and to sign a mutual recognition agreement and avoid European airlines having to seek approval on both sides of the Atlantic. Several European countries including the UK, have however recently concluded recognition agreements with the US with several others currently being negotiated. AEA argues that with a critical build-up of US approvals, an EU-wide deal will be a simple next step.


Cargo charter brokers Pacific Airlift of Singapore, The Charter Store of the US, and recently-formed NEO Air Charter of Germany have joined forces to launch Global Charter Alliance – the world’s first consortium of independent brokers, they say. Their aim is to continue providing highly- personalised service, but will work closely together while customers will benefit from faster responses, more localised presence at origin and destination, and potential opportunities to reduce costs through sharing of capacity and better use of empty legs. As with NEO, GCA has pledged always to respect existing relationships between freight forwarders and their shipper clients.


in Paris just before 01.00. Return from Paris is at 03.42, arriving in Birmingham and Manchester at 04.07 and 05.27 respectively. The new planes also offer


improved fuel efficiency and reduced noise and they will allow FedEx to eliminate two slower feeder services operated by smaller


regional aircraſt as well as an Airbus A300. The direct flight from Belfast to


Paris introduced earlier has been replaced with one to Birmingham operated by an Embraer aircraſt which would offer similar timings but would result in more balanced loads in each direction.


Forwarders fined for price-fixing


The European Commission fined 14 international air freight forwarders a total of €169 million on 28 March for colluding to fix prices and other trading conditions in 2002-07. The fines, which were a European mirror-image to those imposed by the US anti-trust authorities last year, were imposed mainly on Kuehne + Nagel, Schenker, DHL, Panalpina, UPS, Ceva, Agility, DSV, Nippon Express, Kintetsu, Yusen, Hellmann, Expeditors and Toll and were up to around €50 million. Four cartels controlled prices


on major trade lanes between Europe and the US and China. They included one operated when the UK introduced an electronic declaration for exports, in 2003, when freight forwarders agreed to establish a surcharge for the New Export System (NES). There was also a similar


‘Advanced Manifest System’ (AMS) cartel introduced after US customs called for advance information on goods being shipped to that country in 2003/04, a ‘currency adjustment factor’ (CAF) cartel, following


the appreciation of the Chinese currency and a ‘peak season surcharge’ (PSS) cartel. In the latter, the Commission heard, forwarders agreed in so-called ‘breakfast meetings’ on the introduction and timing of surcharges to be imposed in the run-up to Christmas as well as, sometimes, the amount of the surcharge for traffic from China and Hong Kong to Europe. Competition Commissioner


Joaquín Almunia said: “These cartels affected individuals and companies shipping goods on important trade


routes. Many European exporters and consumers of imported goods may have been harmed as a result. Companies should be aware that crossing the line and colluding on prices comes at a high price, as today’s decision illustrates.” On 4 May, Panalpina said that it


would appeal against the European Commission’s


decision in the


European General Court, adding that provisions for the fines of CHF 59 million resulted in a loss of CHF 40 million for the Panalpina Group in the first quarter of 2012.


IAG Cargo’s Iberia Cargo has signed an agreement to become Barcelona- based low-cost airline Vueling’s general sales agent for cargo and mail space for two years. Freight can be now be shipped from and to any of the 21 airports in Spain reached by Vueling as well as London and a range of other European destinations. Vueling operates a fleet of 59 A320 aircraft. Meanwhile, IAG has completed the purchase of bmi from Lufthansa. It is planned that bmi mainline will be integrated into British Airways and consultation has begun already with bmi mainline staff and trade unions.


British Airways World Cargo and Iberia Cargo have integrated cargo handling at Heathrow airport. The Ascentis and Premia facilities will now handle all Iberia Cargo’s shipments in and out of the UK and all Iberia aircraft departing from London Heathrow will now fly from Terminal 5. All cargo and mail for Iberia flights can now be collected and delivered at the IAG Cargo premises.


Arms dealer Viktor Bout, dubbed the “merchant of death”, has been sentenced to 25 years in jail by a US judge, the BBC reported. The 45 year old ex-Soviet officer turned cargo airline boss was found guilty in November of attempting to sell arms to a supposed Colombian rebel group in 2008 who were in fact US informants. Bout operated a fleet of ex-Soviet cargo planes and claimed to be a simple airfreight operator, not an arms dealer. His defence was that he was just trying to sell two old cargo aircraft for $5m and was baiting the ‘rebels’ with the promise of arms.


Venezuelan airline Conviasa and all Libyan carriers were added to the EU’s blacklist of banned airlines subject to an operating ban in the EU on 3 April.


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